


radioman

by AgentKaz



Series: evol love [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Genre: Artistic Liberties, Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Movie, no smut but references to it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:20:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23156203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentKaz/pseuds/AgentKaz
Summary: Agent Stone might not be able to bring Doctor Robotnik back from where he's gone, but he's damn well going to try to help, even if it just means making the equivalent of a very scientific phone call. Meanwhile, Robotnik really could use the company.
Relationships: Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik/Agent Stone
Series: evol love [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1691326
Comments: 39
Kudos: 169





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i'm trying to make contact with other worlds outside of me  
> i'm trying to find answers like needles in a stable
> 
> -state of the union, "radioman"

Kissing Doctor Robotnik during a moment of closeness had, admittedly, been an error on Agent Stone's part, one he'd been perfectly willing to make riiight up until Robotnik had stopped leaning into it, glared at him, and gave him the familiar command to "Pin. Yourself." That's when he knew it had to be serious, and when he knew he was either about to be dead, or fired, or both.

But it was worth it, he supposed, as he stared up at his boss, back to the wall as demanded. He'd made his feelings clear. Some people never even got the chance to do something like that. Now all he could do was watch Robotnik, see what he intended to do. Apparently, what he intended to do was get almost as close to him as he'd been, still glaring intensely at him. And fuck, it was fucking _hot_. Yeah, definitely worth getting fired from life.

Robotnik was silent for a good, long while, before he finally spoke with a quiet intensity. "I don't like people, Stone, you know that. I _hate_ people. And yet you, somehow-- you... you've managed to wiggle yourself into my brain. I don't _like_ it. It's _DEEPLY UNCOMFORTABLE_."

Deeply uncomfortable could probably better describe the distance between them, as there was still basically none. Stone offered him a strained smile. "I'm sorry, Doctor--"

"DON'T." Robotnik pointed at him, hissing through gritted teeth. " _Don't_ drag out the apologies, Agent, I know you don't mean it and you know I don't want it." And before Stone could say anything else, Robotnik's lips were on his.

And that had been that. They'd made out, they'd started essentially dating (although it wasn't like they actually went on dates or anything), and everything had been juuuuuuust fine until a certain blue alien hedgehog showed up and ruined _everything_.

Now Robotnik was who the hell knew where and Stone was not. He'd surprisingly been able to hide the mobile lab under the guise of destroying it; turned out the government agents assigned to all this bullshit were exactly the bumbling fools Robotnik had taken them for, gladly believing everything Stone had told them. After all, he technically worked for them. It had been so simple to pull the wool over their eyes, but he only knew a fraction of what Robotnik did.

But even a fraction of Robotnik's knowledge was more than anyone left on this planet had.

Stone had wiggled himself into Robotnik's brain, but Robotnik had done the same damn thing to him, and right now he was all Stone could think about. Without Robotnik here, Stone had to follow in his footsteps, do what he couldn't have done. He was fully prepared to take the doctor's place if he had to, but... That was a last resort.

Stone was a smart man, despite Robotnik's claims to the contrary (often retracted while they were in bed), and, of course, so was Robotnik. He knew, wherever he was, he was absolutely working out a way home. But if somehow his boss couldn't get out of where he was on his own... maybe a little push was necessary. If he could somehow figure out the... the _wavelength_ of the _energy_ that had sent the doctor out to... _wherever_ , maybe he could make contact. Give him a sort of beacon to make his way home. Maybe talk to him, give him some guidance. Little bit of dirty talk. It was worth a try.

Or several tries. Or several hundred tries.

It certainly took longer than he'd wanted, although any amount of time was longer than he wanted. Even just researching what the hell had happened in the first place took several days, and then he had to work with data he had just the barest access to. But eventually he'd managed to cobble something together, something that could, or at least was supposed to, search for the exact energy signal that had closed off right where the doctor had last been seen and then find the closest thing it could latch on to for contact in, apparently, other worlds entirely.

At least, he hoped so. That was obviously the plan, of course, but he was running on things he only half-knew, information drip-fed to him by Robotnik over various information dumps that had gone halfway over his head on occasion. Playing it as much by ear as by things he remembered. There was the distinct possibility none of this would work, but it was what he had.

It took months. Agonizing months of not knowing what was out there, of staring at a screen while he did what he could to keep Robotnik's lab in top shape. Months of preparing for the worst, of wondering if he really was going to have to take up the mantle. He'd started wearing one of Robotnik's coats, practicing his evil speeches, just for the hell of it. Just in case.

Not to mention he missed the guy, but he wouldn't be putting all this effort into searching if he didn't.

Finally, finally, after all that work, after all those months, something pinged. A signal of sorts had been located, and did he want to establish connection? Of course he did, and he let the computer access... whatever it was it had found. Not wanting to get too excited just yet, he spoke as evenly into the microphone as he could. It could have been a false positive. It was probably a false positive. It was absolutely, definitely-- "Doctor?"

* * *

Just as deeply uncomfortable as the way Agent Stone had wiggled into Doctor Robotnik's brain was this godforsaken MUSHROOM HELL he'd been stuck in for the past SEVERAL MONTHS. It was hot, it was disgusting, his mustache was out of control, and the mushrooms. Oh, for fuck's sake, the _mushrooms_.

As soon as he got out of here, he was going to uninvent mushrooms. From existence. _Entirely_. He had enough time to figure out how to uninvent an entire type of fungus while he was working on getting out of here, he was pretty sure. He'd branch out from robotics and engineering and all those things he was best at to get hardcore into WHATEVER THE HELL HE COULD FIND just for the sheer _relief_ of never having to even _hear_ of the very _concept_ of a mushroom ever again.

But it wouldn't be long now. He had a pack of rescued scrap (small amount as it might be), he had Agent Stone, he had his sanity, and, most important of all, he had the quill from that abominable hedgehog. He'd been mapping this planet out for this long and he was pretty damn sure he was close to calculating the optimal place to build the very thing that would take him from this GODDAMN HELLWORLD and back to his main task.

"We've almost got this, Stone. By my calculations we'll be out of here in... two weeks, give or take a few days. The day's almost here. It's almost time for our REVENGE. I've got my whole plan mapped out. First thing we'll do, NO MORE MUSHROOMS. Second thing, NO MORE HEDGEHOG. _Third_ thing--"

He'd been so busy quietly ranting to himself (and the alleged Agent Stone) that he almost didn't notice the voice. The familiar, familiar voice. The voice he hadn't heard in such a long time from that STUBBORN ROCK OF A MAN that he was sure he'd forgotten it.

_"Doctor?"_

Technically, the voice was resonating from what was left of his wearable computer, helped out somehow through the power of the quill he possessed, but he immediately attributed it to the rock he'd been dragging around, which was as of now sitting next to him on a large mushroom.

"Oh, so NOW you want to talk," he grumbled, staring over at the rock blankly. "Done being angry at me, are you? Finally let it all out?"

There was a pause, at first, and then a very confused-sounding "What?"

Robotnik pointed an accusatory finger at the rock. "Don't you 'what' me, Agent! You've been giving me the silent treatment for ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX DAYS and you're lucky I haven't _fired_ you and left you to the _mushrooms_ to fend for _yourself!_ You can't even do rock-connaissance right!" Scoffing, he stood up and moved to start digging into his bag, looking for something.

"'R-rock-connaissance,' sir?"

Robotnik stopped what he was doing, turned, stared at the rock, and then crouched down, his face very, very close to its facial moss. "BECAUSE YOU'RE A ROCK!" he shouted, then stood up, turned his back on it, and moved back over to rummage through his bag, grumbling incoherently for a while.

Unbelievable. Some people couldn't understand a simple pun.


	2. Chapter 2

It took all of Stone's willpower to keep from laughing hysterically, head in his hands. He'd made contact. He couldn't fucking believe it. Something he'd been sure he'd never manage. Something he was pretty sure the doctor had never managed. He'd reached all the way across worlds, to a whole damn other planet, to what could even be an entirely separate dimension...

And the doctor, the insufferable asshole he was somehow ridiculously in love with, the goddamn _manchild_ he'd spent all this time trying to locate, thought he was a rock. A _rock_.

Well, it could have been worse, he supposed. The doctor could have _not_ had an apparent rock effigy of the man who he said he wouldn't miss.

He took a deep breath to compose himself, but he couldn't keep the smile off his face when he spoke into the microphone again. "I'm not there, Doctor, I promise. I'm in your mobile lab, actually. I managed to keep anybody from destroying it, so it's here and ready for you to come back. I can't really say the same for your other things..."

But Robotnik didn't seem to be listening, which was probably for the best when potential bad news was involved. Although he wasn't listening to the good news either. "What do you MEAN you're not here, you're right here! I'm looking right at you!"

Stone furrowed his eyebrows, staring at the readouts on the monitor for a moment, unsure exactly how to respond to that. "No, I'm not. I've managed to isolate the frequency of where you've been dropped off and I'm communicating with you through a sort of... wormhole? At least I _think_ that's what it is. It's, uh, a liiiiittle out of my skillset--"

_"SHUT UP!"_ He was cut off before he could continue by Robotnik's shouting voice, which just felt... almost normal. Somehow, he'd missed even the insults. "Agent Stone, you absolute _idiot_ , you've been here the whole _time_ , don't try to fool me. I'll cut off your mushroom privileges, see if I won't."

Stone just blinked, at a loss for words for a moment. "I don't-- I-- 'mushroom privileges?'"

"Don't act like that with me! You're, you're--" There was a quiet sort of stomping noise, followed by a toneless hum. "Oh. That IS a rock."

Well, now they were getting somewhere. Stone glanced at the monitor, wondering... "Do you think... can you establish some kind of video feed? Show me what you're working with?"

"I'm not sure if the camera on this thing is broken or not. Hold on." There was more stomping. "If you'd just stay still..."

Stone rubbed his temples. "...You're talking to the rock again, aren't you."

"No." Robotnik's answer sounded _exactly_ like he'd been talking to the rock. "At least the ROCK didn't try to get _SASSY_."

Stone thought about that for a moment, then spoke up again, trying to keep the laugh out of his voice. "Right. The rock can't fuck you like I can, though."

The silence was palpable, but it didn't take long for Robotnik to start talking again. "...You DARE say that to me."

"That's right." Stone leaned back in the chair. Robotnik was in no position to do anything to him and he wasn't worried. Likely it just meant when he got Robotnik home, they'd end up having a very, very wild night. But, also, what he was really hoping was that it might help break him out of whatever funk he was getting himself into. Piss him off a little, maybe he'd stop thinking he was a rock, get a little more motivated...

"I. Am going. To KILL YOU."

Stone beamed, chin in his hands. He proooobably wouldn't have been able to get away with teasing him like this so much in person, but he had the opportunity and he was taking it. "Now we're getting somewhere! Keep up that energy, sir!"

* * *

Robotnik glowered at a nearby mushroom as he fiddled with the computer on his wrist. So it actually was Agent Stone's voice and not the actual rock that had been serving as a replacement. Which, obviously, made sense, but it was still a little frustrating (not to mention embarrassing) that somehow he'd just... rolled with it. He huffed, playing with the side of his overgrown mustache as the computer loaded, observing what he had with a sort of new perspective before he moved to record what was going on for Agent Stone.

Alleged Agent Stone, he corrected himself. He still couldn't be positive that this was actually him communicating with him, even though he sounded _exactly_ like him and was being an absolute _imbecile_ like him. He could be a spy. He could be a hallucination brought on by mushroom bullshit. He could... be a rock.

He slid the computer off his wrist, waving it in front of the area he'd set himself up in for the moment, allowing it to send off the video footage. Or, at least, he hoped it would. Nothing more frustrating than broken technology, especially when it had to leap interdimensional bounds to accomplish its task.

Not that there was much to show. A bag of junky parts, the rock, the hedgehog's quill, and, of course, the mushrooms. The quill was probably the only damn useful thing he had with him anymore. Maybe the rock'd be useful if he needed to hit someone over the head with it, but there was nobody here.

Nobody at all.

But, no, he corrected himself, now he had someone. Not someone he'd apparently invented to stave away the boredom. Sure, he wasn't _here_ here, but he was more here than he'd been in months, and that counted.

Had it been the loneliness that had caused this... madness of his? No, he didn't get lonely, that was ridiculous. Sure, he'd been away from the only human he'd ever sort of trusted for over a hundred days. Sure, he'd been projecting on a rock. But it wasn't loneliness. Had it been the mushrooms? Possibly. Even the world's greatest mycologist would have had trouble identifying these things. And while he'd tried his best to make sure everything was edible, who was to say there hadn't been something toxic, something psychedelic, something just _wrong_ about the surrounding area? Other than the usual issues with MUSHROOM HELL, anyway. It was an alien planet.

He peered down at the computer on his wrist, allowing it to transmit his face to Stone once he'd shown off his surroundings. "So, you've finally managed to contact me after all this time. What the hell took you so long?"

"You're a hard man to find, Doctor. You look..." The pause until his next word was _far_ too long, and it wasn't until Robotnik sneered into the camera that he finished. "Different."

"Is that really the word you wanted to use, Stone? Is it? Is it _really?_ " After no response but an obviously muffled laugh, he rolled his eyes. "It was easier to deal with no hair... and like hell I'm getting rid of the mustache. And the hedgehog? Did you get it? Tell me you got it!"

"Not yet, Doctor. My priority was you."

Robotnik wasn't having it, leaning in uncomfortably close to his wrist just to make sure Stone understood that he wasn't having it. "You didn't get the hedgehog???" he snarled. "What the _hell_ is wrong with you, Stone? You've been closer to that THING than I have this _whole damn time_ and you couldn't even... stick a very large NET in front of it???"

"Because you're the genius here, remember? You're the one who knows how to use all these things. And... I missed you."

Robotnik let out a heavy sigh, running a hand over his face. Of _course_ Stone had to get all sappy and ego-strokey. It was just like him. "Well, APPARENTLY I've... missedyoutoo," he said, the words sort of slurring together towards the end as he tried not to make too big a deal out of it. "But _DON'T_ get used to it!"

"Don't worry, I won't. Look, I know where he is. I've done what I could with what I have, but... That's your moment. It's time for you to come home. I'm here to help you however I can, Doctor."

Robotnik stroked his mustache as he mulled it over. "Yes... With my intellect, and your... temporary ownership of my resources... Okay, perfect. HA, I knew I'd be out of here in no time!"

He went back to digging in his bag, and then paused, peering down at the computer. "...Send me my playlists, Stone. I need some inspiration. I've got a FUNGAL HELLSCAPE to evacuate."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stone can be little a shit, as a treat


	3. Chapter 3

Turned out interdimensional filesharing took a lot of bandwidth. Sure, Stone could send Robotnik his playlists... at dial-up speeds. He groaned, leaning on the table, looking defeated as Dragostea Din Tei neared the halfway mark. He was _really_ starting to wish he'd just gone to shake down the hedgehog for his warp portals or something by himself.

But no, as much as Robotnik might have appreciated it, that would have raised a lot of issues and he wasn't _really_ looking to take on all of that by himself just yet. Last resorts were last resorts and he currently had no need for them.

Robotnik was alive. Robotnik was talking to him. Robotnik was coming home eventually.

Robotnik was driving him up a fucking wall.

"Can't you just pick out your favorite?" Stone asked, voice muffled as he lay his face on the table. The progress bar inched forward at a snail's pace.

"They're _ALL_ my favorite, Stone!" came the reply.

Stone didn't bother watching the video feed; Robotnik had the computer strapped to his wrist again and it was mostly just shaky footage of mushrooms and weird angles of himself as he went this way and that, putting together whatever weird concept had inspired him. It was usually interesting to watch him work, buuuut not this way. It kind of gave Stone a headache.

Instead, he idly scrolled through the doctor's playlists, trying to work out a way to make the upload go faster. He was already dealing with all kinds of complicated issues regarding the laws of physics; surely there had to be a way to stabilize the connection better. He was doing a damn good job as it was, but this was Robotnik's wheelhouse, not his.

Of course, asking the doctor about it was kind of a crapshoot. He was _still_ ranting about how he needed his music, and the upload ticked onward without a care for his needs.

"Just... use the ones I sent you for now and wait for the rest to come in! You're not even gonna be there that long! Do you even have the space for it all?"

"I need them!"

"Then you figure out how to make them go faster!"

He supposed, to an extent, he could understand his issues. Robotnik had been out there for months with nobody, in pure silence aside from... mushroom noises, only able to talk to himself or the rock effigy. He'd had no reason to believe Stone was out there looking for him... considering he'd been convinced he was a rock. That had to be hard on a guy.

Getting frustrated wasn't going to help anything. He was here to support his boss... even if it meant taking twenty minutes to transfer the full version of This Corrosion that he absolutely insisted on having on this very particular playlist. Robotnik's music taste was eclectic, to say the least, his playlists having only the most tenuous links between songs and the alleged theme, understood only by him, and apparently he liked to have the whole thing in his possession at once.

And tucked among the list of playlists with bombastic titles like "Tunes of Anarchy" and "Soulful Chamber Music of Oppression" (and a playlist inexplicably containing solely the entire output of a band called Crush 40) was one with the title "Disgusting Human Emotion." The songs within weren't traditional love songs by any means, but Stone figured out their purpose immediately. He'd made them a goddamn relationship playlist.

It was kind of adorable, in that weird Robotnik sort of way.

He peered up at the monitor, showing glimpses of the doctor's new look as he worked. Stone couldn't pretend that he didn't prefer how he used to look, but personal upkeep had to be hard where he'd gone. And it did suit him, in a way. He could get used to the new Robotnik, mushroom-fueled madness and all. He queued the Disgusting Human Emotion playlist to upload after this one was done, grinning softly to himself, and then he chanced a quick "I love you" into the microphone.

There was a long, long pause, and Stone began to wonder if Robotnik had actually heard him. Probably for the better if he hadn't, he knew he never really liked him getting all sentimental about their relationship, but--

There was a heavy, heavy sigh. "...Love you too."

Stone smiled.

* * *

The lack of music _really_ had been a detriment to his work process, Robotnik thought as he set out a few of the pieces of scrap he'd salvaged. Well, a lot of things had been, but there was something about music that could help... keep him grounded or something. He worked better with a soundtrack. Helped him think. Not that he needed the help, of course. But he liked it.

As the various songs of a single playlist slowly trickled in, he slapped on the first thing that popped out when he had enough that he wouldn't run out before more downloaded. The tinny speaker in his wrist device wasn't exactly ideal, especially not compared to the sound system in his lab, but it was what he had at the moment and it was better than nothing. Unless... well, if anyone could figure out how to make a speaker out of mushrooms, it'd be him.

But that could happen later. He'd been doing months of thinking, but those months of thinking involved working solely with the resources he had. Which... were pretty lacking. Even the limitless power of the hedgehog creature's quill couldn't do shit if you couldn't turn a mushroom into a spaceship.

Not that he hadn't tried. He'd tried several times, in fact. It was hard to keep the damn thing together. He'd worked on trying to get the mushrooms to grow together, but the damn things never liked to cooperate. Sometimes he could get something that looked the part, but that was the closest he could manage.

But now he had Stone, who he could utilize to work with his things back home. Having someone else use his resources was never his first choice... but Stone was allowed more access to his things than anyone else was, and surely he had to have digested at least _some_ of the things Robotnik told him as he worked. And even if he couldn't grasp the exact delicate intricacies of his machines, he could follow instructions well enough.

Either way. Robotnik had a better idea of a way home now than he ever did before.

The main problem was that the only thing connecting the two was some sort of tenuous radio link through a "sort of wormhole" and that wasn't going to get him back there or his things here without a lot of extra work. However, if he could use the quill here to provide more power, and have Stone build something on the other end to utilize it better, creating some sort of synergy that could open up...

"Doctor?" Stone _rudely_ interrupted.

Robotnik sneered into the camera. "Not now, Stone, I'm thinking! I've already indulged your unnecessary affections, what more do you want?"

"Just making sure you were okay. You went quiet." 

"I'm FINE, shut _UP!_ I know you need to hear my voice but I don't need to hear yours!" he snarled, moving back to his workspace, trying to turn the music up louder than the agent's voice. It didn't go so well when it just turned up both.

"Yes you dooooooo. Just wanted to check in... and let you know I'm sending you Disgusting Human Emotion right now, sir. Halfway through a song called Beloved... You really do care, huh?"

"OH, _SHUT IT!_ " He stuck his hand over the camera portion of the computer, not moving it away until Stone stopped laughing.

With the big empty mushroom world now filled up by the music, low-quality as it was, Robotnik could focus. He could peer at the few things he had and remember what he had back home and come up with a million solutions. He had plenty of time to connect the dots. There were so many dots to connect, dots left unconnectable when he no longer had contact with home, possibilities now endless. Yes. Perfect. Genius.

He had a number of epiphanies in a matter of hours, hypotheses for the testing, concepts to work on, but he kept missing one final, final thing. The thing that would bring it all together.

And then, towards the end of This Corrosion, he found it. The answer to all their problems. Well, all their "escape from mushroom hellworld" problems, anyway, but fixing those problems would help their next problems. It'd require a lot of coordination, but they had everything they needed if they combined what they had.

"Stone!" he shouted as he finally cut the music off, first turning towards the rock, and then quickly correcting himself and staring down at his wrist, wild grin on his face. "I need you to follow my instructions exactly. I've got an idea."

He elected to ignore the _"finally"_ he got in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you bet your ass i'm working on a "disgusting human emotion" playlist.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> disgusting human emotion: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2sjLIy2drxCAVuQfPXVvky
> 
> (see end notes for details n stuff)

"Run that by me again? Remember, _one_ of us here doesn't have the big massive brain and might need things broken up a little."

Stone was taking notes diligently, but Robotnik's words were heading off into incomprehensible technobabble territory again and he needed him to rein things in. He could get the gist of it, he usually did, but the gist wasn't going to go far enough here. These weren't the ramblings of a mad genius who needed someone to talk to. These were the ramblings of a mad genius who needed someone to talk to _and_ build things for him, and he wasn't going to get far if he didn't know what he precisely needed to do.

"You know I appreciate it when you degrade yourself like that," Robotnik said, and Stone rolled his eyes, pen tapping on the pad of paper while he waited for further instruction. "We're going to utilize this connection you've established and expand it to allow physical objects to pass through. If we increase the computational power on your side, and stabilize the energy source on mine..."

And that's how Stone found himself building a complicated device to bring Robotnik back home.

Frankly, a lot of the tech was simple enough to use when he had the doctor telling him exactly what to put and where. Occasionally he had to ask for a condensed explanation, Robotnik constantly going on scientific tangents that were fascinating but useless in this situation. He let him talk, though. The doctor finally had an audience that wasn't a rock and a bunch of mushrooms, and Stone wanted to keep hearing his voice. He'd never thought he'd be able to hear it again, and to hear him speaking passionately about a new project at the same time was exciting.

Eventually, Robotnik turned the camera to show Stone what he was working on on his end. 

The monitor showed a large, rather sturdy-looking mushroom with various pieces of scrap metal and broken technology stuck to the sides, apparently reinforcing it somehow. Stone wasn't sure if it was necessary or just decorative, but he knew better than to ask the doctor about that part. The quill poked out of the top like a cartoonish blue antenna, pulsing oddly. "This," Robotnik said, "will be the generator on my side. Not even remotely pretty, no, in fact, it's hideous! Much like you think of me now. But it should get the job done."

Stone pointed the pen at the monitor, although he wasn't recording any video and Robotnik wouldn't see. "I don't think you're hideous. Just. Y'know. It's gonna take some getting used to if you're gonna keep it that way."

"I'm sure," Robotnik scoffed. "Anyway. Once your part's finished, you'll set up everything to build up your frequency that should hopefully be amplified by my little project here. If all goes as planned, I should have enough time to run on through, just like we were using one of that little blue rat's portal devices."

So there Stone sat on the floor of the lab, plugging various things into each other, typing out the doctor's coding instructions when necessary. His little tech nest consisted of five computers, a number of different sensors and other bits and pieces, and a few of the doctor's badniks for good measure. A lot of the specifics really went over his head, but following the instructions exactly seemed to be causing something to come together, at least.

Something that made a lot of beeping noises. That was... likely good?

"Everything seems to be working alright, Doctor," he reported when everything was seemingly done, staring at the readout on the nearest monitor. "All instructions followed and the device should be ready!"

"Excellent. And what does it say on your end?"

Stone read him the report, and things were quiet for a moment, until Robotnik spoke again.

"Start it up, Stone! It's now or never!"

* * *

The portal opened up, at first, as a tiny anomaly of energy, barely perceptible to anyone who wasn't looking for it. But Robotnik _was_ looking for it. The readouts were promising. There was no guarantee that the portal would grow to a size that would admit him through, of course, but he had a good feeling about this. The science was sound, even if the supplies weren't, and despite the insults he often threw at Stone, he was competent enough to be able to follow instructions. He certainly wouldn't have stayed as his assistant if he wasn't.

"It's working, Stone!" he said excitedly into his wrist computer, a wide grin on his face. He was impatient, but he'd waited this long.

It took over an hour, but eventually the portal had progressed to be large enough to let a person through. A large tear in space-time, it displayed a shimmery image of the inside of Robotnik's mobile lab... including Agent Stone, sitting on the floor among Robotnik's machines, staring intently at a monitor. He admired the view for a moment before shouting to get his assistant's attention. "Look, Stone! It's incredible! It's fully operational and ready for testing! It's-- Stone, what the hell are you wearing."

Stone looked up, glancing down at his outfit like he couldn't remember what he'd worn today. Black shirt, black tie, black pants... Robotnik's coat... "Oh. Uh. I started... wearing your coats? In case I had to... Okay in hindsight I admit this is _kind_ of fucking stupid, but I thought if I couldn't find you... I just had to pick up where you left off. Aaaand for some reason that translated to 'put on his coat to look the part?'"

Robotnik blinked. "Oh. You were prepared to be my successor?" He was at a loss for words for a moment, but he certainly looked impressed. "Well... it looks good on you. I should get you one in your size. Anyway! Tests!"

He turned away from the portal, attention moving to a few items he'd prepared for this purpose.

"First test! Inorganic matter." He hefted the rock that had served as the replacement for Agent Stone. "Alright, Agent! Gimme one last rock-connaissance!"

Stone quickly got to his feet and held his hands up in a defensive motion. "Waitwaitwaitwait. Mmmmmaybe you shouldn't throw that one, Doctor. You've got a lot of equipment in here, and--"

"Oh. You're right. That would be disastrous. Ah..." Robotnik shook his head to clear his thoughts, and then carefully rolled the rock into the portal, watching to see what it did. It went right through, landing at Stone's feet as if he was right there across from him.

"Everything looks okay on my end!" Stone called, lifting the rock up and placing it on a table. He stood there for a moment, back facing the portal as Robotnik watched. "This is, uhhh... This is 'me'? It's not a bad likeness at all, actually. Huh." He crouched there, apparently just inspecting the rock, before Robotnik called to get his attention again.

"Stone! Look at that later! Second test! Organic matter!" With a lot less care and precision, he tossed a mushroom into the portal, which Stone easily turned around and caught. The portal itself seemed to offer no resistance, which was a good sign.

"Mushroom received, sir!" he said, holding it up to the portal triumphantly before placing it next to the rock on the table. "I am not eating this!"

"I don't expect you to, Stone. If I get my way, you'll never eat a mushroom again. Because they WON'T EXIST."

Both tests completed and seemingly successful, there was only one more thing left to try. He stepped up to the portal, gazing into it thoughtfully. Stone stood on the other side with a wide grin and his hand outstretched. It was so close, he wanted to reach out and take it. He didn't. Not yet.

Part of him didn't think this was real.

Part of him thought he'd wake up under the shade of a mushroom, eat another mushroom, and walk over mushrooms until he found more mushrooms and schemed and planned and plotted and pretended he could get out of MUSHROOM HELL all by himself. He'd spend the rest of eternity among the mushrooms until his body finally gave out and what was left became a mushroom itself, lost to the multiverse.

"Well, Doctor? You coming?"

Stone's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he stared towards the portal. Turned out he couldn't get out of here by himself. Turned out he couldn't work alone. Turned out the man he'd been so _damn_ sure he wouldn't miss was the man he missed most of all. And that man refused to leave his side, even when they were so far apart and he could have easily forgotten him and moved on. That man was fully prepared to take over in his pursuits, all for the sake of love.

Well, there was nothing wrong with being part of a team if you were still the one in charge, right? He sighed, chancing a smile at the man who, against all odds, he loved. Who he needed.

He'd never get used to the feeling.

He stood poised to enter, only to pause once more. "I wonder how well you've followed my instructions, Agent. The tests worked, but a particularly complex organism such as myself will be... taxing to the portal."

"Only one way to find out, Doctor." Stone gestured with his open hand, grin still on his face. "C'mon home, Ivo. I made you a latte just the way you like 'em. No mushrooms, I promise."

Reaching out to grab Stone's hand, Robotnik stepped through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the playlist's noooot QUITE as eclectic as i'd intended it to be but i also didn't wanna spend a billion years on it (legit, playlists usually take me a Long Time) and it was mostly stuff i could think of. i wanted it done for this chapter, and didn't wanna make people wait too long, so out it goes. still, enjoy! there's an undercurrent of melancholy behind the whole thing like SOMEBODY never expected things to last despite some sprinkled cheesy dance jams. that first song is a banger, but oof. anyway, ic reasoning is it's a work in progress SO i am absolved if anything doesn't really fit. next chapter's the last one, see you next time!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more playlist: the radioman soundtrack. short n sweet. enjoy. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7bU7nMW8rci3BqFIz6XiKD?si=sw44VyFMQUu_bQy9zk7n1A

The hand that gripped Stone's was real. It was _real_ , it was solid, and it extended from the portal like so many of those dreams that he woke up from, sweating and alone and disoriented. He gripped back, fingers wrapping around the hand and squeezing with an urgency he'd never grabbed that hand with before.

He was no longer alone. 

Stone didn't want to let go. He didn't want to let go of the physical evidence that the man he loved still existed, even while he was finally standing there in front of him. Like if he let go Robotnik would be gone. Like his existence depended on Stone holding on to him. Like the government's insistence would become true if he hadn't had contact.

But he couldn't just hold on to him forever, and finally, when Robotnik had both feet firmly on the floor of the lab, he let go and stepped back, looking at the man who'd been gone for all this time. The man he'd helped bring back.

He'd _helped_. He was instrumental in a project of the doctor's. He could allow himself a bit of pride.

Robotnik's new look seemed even more jarring in person, the sides of his mustache sticking out in ways he'd never thought physically possible, his hair gone. He was dirty, his flight suit was in tatters, and he stank to high heaven. But it was _him_. His doctor. The love of his fucking life.

At first, the doctor turned back around to face the portal, gazing into it before peering at the rest of the lab, in apparent disbelief. "I'm... back..." he mumbled, apparently to himself, as he dropped his bag on the floor. As Robotnik looked around with a dazed expression, Stone wrapped him in a hug, tears flowing. He didn't even bother to hide them. Yes, it was disgusting human emotion, but he knew how Robotnik actually felt about that. Emotion was inevitable. They were _together_.

He clung to him, sniffling a little, ignoring the fact that Robotnik stiffened awkwardly at the contact. He could handle a little hug. Or a big one. It was definitely a big one. "I missed you so much!"

Robotnik looked mildly annoyed for a second before returning the hug... and he squeezed even more than Stone did. "Well, Stone. Turns out I missed you too."

They stood there for a good long while despite the inherent awkwardness, until a light started flashing and an emergency siren started going off, startling them out of their reverie. Untangling themselves from each other, they turned to face the portal, which was starting to shimmer oddly.

" _That_ is the universal sign for a closing portal!" he said with what sounded like great authority. Stone didn't have time to look incredulous before Robotnik continued speaking. " _Shit_. The quill! Who knows if we can get back there! Stone, grab me!" Stone grabbed his waist while Robotnik reached back into the portal, grabbed the mushroom device he'd set up, and pulled back, Stone keeping him as anchored as he could. They dragged the mushroom through the portal, and just like that, the portal was gone.

Stone stared at the space where the portal had been, all traces of the strange mushroom world now gone, aside from the rock, the original test mushroom, the bag, and the device the doctor had created. He waved a hand where the portal had been, but nothing felt different. He peered over at the table, his eyes widened, and he quickly grabbed a cup from it, spinning around and presenting it to Robotnik.

"Oh! Right! Here's your latte, Doctor. It's... probably a little cold, I made it while the portal was opening..."

Robotnik gripped the cup, staring at it like it was a foreign object. "Stone, I haven't had anything that hasn't tasted like a mushroom in a VERY LONG TIME. I don't care if it's _frozen_." Holding it to his lips, he took a sip.

He paused.

Stone waited.

"This is the greatest thing I've ever tasted."

Stone watched him silently until he finished his drink before doing anything else.

When the cup was out of the way, he wrapped his arms around Robotnik again, this time leaning up for a kiss. With a bit of hesitation, soon enough lips met his. The kiss was quick, awkward, hungry, urgent, a little itchy, a little coffee-flavored, and as soon as it was over Robotnik moved in for a second one.

They stayed that way for a good several moments, but eventually Stone had to pull away.

"Doctor... I'm really sorry, but... you stink."

* * *

The mobile lab had a tiny shower generally meant for when assignments lasted long enough, and Robotnik stayed in there until long after the water got cold. Water. Non-mushroom-tainted water. Clean and pleasant and real and-- He could have stayed in there forever if he didn't have other plans. He sure felt like he did. Stone sat outside to talk to him, catching him up with things that had happened.

Apparently, all they had left was this lab. Robotnik, officially, no longer existed, never existed in the first place. It was fitting, really, he supposed. Anything that he owned outside of this lab had long since been destroyed or repurposed.

Good thing he didn't need much outside of what was here. From the next to nothing he had on the mushroom planet... the preservation of his work here was abundant. There was no reason to mourn what he couldn't have when he needed to get ready for new things. It did surprise him, though.

"How'd you even manage this? I was sure they would have carpet bombed the whole damn thing already."

Stone laughed, the sound muffled by the shower. "Managed to convince them I'd do it instead, and just hid it from them. It's like you always say, Doctor. Everyone is stupid."

When he finally finished in the shower, it had been... a while, and he was practically a prune by then, but it had been so damn nice he didn't care. Dressed comfortably in a fresh t-shirt (Dustrial brand) and his most evil pajama pants (black with cartoon robots), he walked around the lab, checking on all his creations, Stone close behind. It had been a long time since he'd seemed so thrilled about anything, but it was like looking at everything through fresh eyes.

Technology and machinery as far as the eye could see. His babies. No mushrooms. Wonderful. 

"Badniks all accounted for, and in great condition... lab clean... is this some new work I see? Building upon previous iterations? I'm impressed, Stone! You know, I was expecting to have to start from scratch whenever I got back. Having to rebuild the prototype will be... annoying... but we'll manage."

"We'll?"

Robotnik turned to look at him. "Of course, Stone. You're working with me, aren't you?"

Stone grinned at him. "I'd be happy to."

Robotnik had a feeling the government would not be happy about what Stone did, or about his own return for that matter, if they were ever smart enough to investigate. But they'd deal with that later. There was so much to do, and no better time to get started.

In fact, Stone seemed to be on the very same wavelength. "Well, Doctor.. how about we make up for lost time?" he asked, looking hopeful.

"You're right." Robotnik leaned down, kissed him, and made a beeline for his desk. "There's plenty of time to get out there and get that creature! You said you know where he is, right?" He plopped down on the chair and spun around to face Stone, wild grin on his face that matched his facial hair. "If we start now, I'm sure we can get him by morning!"

Stone gave him a look and cleared his throat.

Oh. Different wavelength.

Robotnik sighed, standing up, kicking the chair away with his foot. "...Tomorrow. Let's get that creature tomorrow."

"That's better," Stone said as he grabbed his hand, and tugged him towards the back. Robotnik allowed it. He always allowed it.

Just like old times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's the end of my first finished multichapter fanfic since like... high school! it was cool to be all inspired by a pairing that just fucking blindsided me in the first place. dunno if i'll write any more. maybe i'll do an explicit one sometime. maybe not. we'll see! mostly i prefer to do my writing via rp, to tell the truth, since i usually vibe best with one character.
> 
> i really really like the vibes of the songs on the soundtrack. i hope you like them too. most of them are basically supposed to fit either what's going on or general feelings or whatever. one of them is this corrosion. that was in the fic though!! it counts!!! i think the state of your heart (shit end of the deal) was my favorite choice.
> 
> anyway, thank you for coming along with me for the ride! i appreciate all of you! if you read this, then thank you! if you didn't, thank you anyway!!

**Author's Note:**

> this started because i wrote the "i don't like people" line and then needed either a whole fanfic or an rp to use it in, and i didn't wanna wait for the perfect point in rp, but then i wanted to write something post-movie so a flashback it was. lot of "just pretend it works" technology in here, apologies for not researching whether warp ring technology can resonate with blue alien hedgehog technology to create a voice link. turns out i fell pretty hard into stobotnik after seeing the sonic movie which was COMPLETELY UNINTENTIONAL sooooo here this is. i don't intend for it to go on for too long, but we'll see how it goes. PEACE.


End file.
